Built-up pigskin-cutting block



Nov. 17', 1925. 1,562,162

Y H. M. GUSDORF BUILTUP PIGSKIN CUTTING BLOCK Filed Sept. 19, 1924 Ifmyer Patented Nov. 17, 1925.

UNITED STATES HAROLDM. GUSDORE, 0F INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

BUILT-UP PIGSKIN-CUTTING BLOCK.

Application mea september i9, 1924. seria-1 No. 733,709.Y f

To all 'whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, HAROLD M. GUsDoRF, a citizen of the United States, residing at Indianapolis, in the county of Marion and State of Indiana, have invented a new andv useful Improvement in'Built-Up Pigskin- Cutting Blocks, of which the following is a specification.

Blocks for knives and dies to cut against are often of considerable area and much an noyance has been experienced heretofore by the rapid disintegration under the knife of the cutting surface. Wood, in which the end of the grain is presented to the knife, has been most commonly used, but it is not durable, and annoying chips and dust arise from the disintegrated material, and ragged edges are imparted to the work by the worn block.

I have discovered that pig (or hog) skin leather is of a dierent texture from any other leather or material with which I am acquainted, and possesses long tenacious and sinuous bers running parallel with the back bone of the animal from which the hide was taken, which are tied together by simular cross fibers that are absent in wood growth and are less developed in the hides from which all other kinds of leather known to me are made, and I have also found that a surface to cut against, comprising pigskin leather' cut in strips and compactly as sembled with their edges toward the knife, .is superior in durability and knife honing properties and gives a cleaner cut than wood or any other material now in use.

The object of this invention, therefore, is to provide a cutting block, of any desired dimensions, out of pig skin leather such as presents a severed edge of the leather to the knife.

In the accompanying drawing- Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a fragment of pig skin leather showing the fibers of the leather.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view and Fig. 3 a side elevation of one form of my complete pig skin cutting block.

Referring to Fig. 1, of the drawing, the

fibers a are sinuous and run generally in a.

direction at right angles with the direction of the back-bone when the hide from which the leather was made was on the animal, and b are sinuous fibers substantially at right angles with a and interwoven with the latter. This leather is cut in strips of a width equal .to the width of the cutting block which theV leather is to be used, and this f strip is c ut transversely on lines o to form smaller strips or members il, of a length equal to the width of the proposed cutting block and of a width equal to the .desired thickness of the cutting block.

The members 2 are assembled faceto face with each other preferably with their original ends alternately reversed to equalize any differences of compactness, which usually increases toward t-he backbone, in the hide. The members 2 are adhesively united by ak proper cement or glue, under pressure, and are'retained between wooden end blocks 5 and 6, by outside block-connecting metall straps 7 and 8, which have 'rounded and threaded ends that pass through respective metal end straps 9 and 10, and the assembly is held by nuts11. Intermediate bolts 12, (here shown as singular but a plurality may be used), additionally bind the assembly together.

Other bolts 13, (here shown as three, but there may be a greater or a less number) pass transversely through the cutting board y and outside straps 7 and 8 and prevent the spreading sideways of the block.

In the operation of my invention the material to be cut is spread upon the cutting block surface and the knife or die is lowered into contact with and through it and enters the cutting block an appreciable distance in order to make a clean cut of the material. The knife enters between' the ends of the fibers a. Their nature, and the manner in which they are interwoven by the cross fibers b causes them to yield elastically to the knife and to be automatically returned, whereby chipping and dusting away of the surface of the'block is practically,y eliminated and the knife is honed and automatically sharpened instead of being dulled, as heretofore. H

Having thus fully described my invention what I claim as new, :is--

1. A cutting block formed out of a' plurality of pig-skin leatherrmembers such that the edges of the members form the cutting surface of the block.

2. A cutting block comprising a plurality of pig-skin leather members `adhesively united, the formation ofsaid members being with edges which un-itedly comprise the cutting surface of the block. s

3. A cutting block comprising a plurality of pig-skin leather members `adhesively united, the formation of said members being with edges which unitedly comprise the cutting surface of the block, and means to prevent the spreading of the block from use. A Y 4. A cutting block comprising a plurality of pig-skin leather members adhesively united, the formation of said members being with edges cut on lines substantially at right angles with the line of the backbone, said members being assembled with the ends of their edges alternately reversed, said edges unitedly comprising the cutting surface of the block, and means to prevent the separation of the members in use.

Signed at ndianapolis, county of Marion, State of Indiana, this the 17th day of Sept., 1924.

HAROLD M. GUSDORF. 

